I went to the Durham office to try and switch my 3100HD for a 3250HD and they didn't have any. They called around and found that Raleigh does have them and that Chapel Hill does not. They said to one another "how come we always get new equipment last." I drove to Raleigh and sure enough they switched out my box for a 3250HD. It seems to be their standard HD box now. I took it home and worried that it wouldn't work in Durham but it worked fine. I did have to call TCW to have them reset it once I installed it at home.

The box works great. The problem I had with the sound synchorization on the 3100 wasn't there on the 3250. There are now two standard audio outputs in addition to the digital audio out. One for the component video and one for the standard video. I don't have a coaxial digital audio input so I haven't tested the digital audio yet.

The 3250 allows you to choose 480i/480p/720p/1080i modes. I left mine set for 1080i as my plasma is a 852x480 model but tried 720p just for the heck of it. It allows you to choose your output aspect ratio 4x3 or 16x9. It also allows a choice of sidebars, zoom, or stretch which you can switch with the remote.

The s-video output works at the same time as the component output except it does not display any of the overlay information such as channel or guide info. HD channels are now down scanned and displayable on the s-video port so you can record them to a vcr. When you put up guide information on HD channels you can now see the HD channel in the tiny window. The volume information scroll bar also shows up.

The only problem I have so far is the choice of side bar colors. Right now it comes up as a fairly bright grey. It would be nice to lower the brightness on them or set them to black. Of course the option is to turn them off completely using either the stretch or zoom mode.

I called Fayetteville again yesterday. Got a different CSR from before. This one didn't know nuttin (except maybe what her girlfriends lipstick shade is called).

Anyway my friend from my local office called this afternoon saying Fayetteville let him get 5 3250HD's to bring down our way. He's scheduled for one to be brought out to me tomorrow between 9 am and 1 pm and take this 3100HD away. I'm ready for it. He called early today to schedule delivery today but I missed his call. It will simplify my wiring and input switching.

How's the quality of the component output on this box on SD channels compared to the 3100HD? I find the 3100 just horrible on SD over component.

Also, is enabling DVI just a SW upgrade, or is the DVI-enabled box just a different product? It's a real shame that we have an HD pioneer like WRAL, and a backwards-thinking TWC serving the same area. Would it kill TWC to enable DVI? I'd even pay more. You would think that technology leadership would be a key strategy in their anti-dish campaign.

How's the quality of the component output on this box on SD channels compared to the 3100HD? I find the 3100 just horrible on SD over component.

Also, is enabling DVI just a SW upgrade, or is the DVI-enabled box just a different product? It's a real shame that we have an HD pioneer like WRAL, and a backwards-thinking TWC serving the same area. Would it kill TWC to enable DVI? I'd even pay more. You would think that technology leadership would be a key strategy in their anti-dish campaign.

Are any of you using a direct view HDTV. I just bought a Samsung TXN2775HF. I am a little confused about the reolution settings and widescreen settings. I have had to make some changes to get the grey bars to go away but am trying ot find out the best quality viewing settings.

Originally posted by Daryl LAnybody with TWC of Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville know why as of yesterday the cable boxes program guide info for channel 252 WRAZ'S broacast of WRAL Weather Center is only listing Fox Sports Net in the guide info?

Is TWC planning to add Fox Sportsnet HD?

Hopefully that will be the channel showing the HD 'Canes games instead of the main Fox channel. It seemed like every HD 'Canes game was on Tuesday, which eliminated any chance of watching 24 in widescreen.

Quote:

Originally posted by LarryNC

The s-video output works at the same time as the component output except it does not display any of the overlay information such as channel or guide info.

When will this be fixed? My JVC TV has a unique stretch mode called "Panorama" that looks way better than simple stretch. I can use this only with S-Video. There's no way I'm going without the guide on S-Video! LOL.

Well, they brought my 3250HD out this morning. I can honestly say without any doubt that the foggy/hazy look the old 3100HD boxes produce on the coponent outputs is completely absent from the 3250HD box. Even analog looks better on the component output while being upconverted to 1080i. One thing I'm not crazy about is switching between 480i and 1080i in the setup menu everytime you switch from a HD channel to a SD channel. It's probably easier to switch tv inputs like I did with the 3100HD.

If you have a 1080i tv what ever you do don't choose 720p in the setup menu. LOL, the cable guy did this and we had a time guessing were in the menu the format option was at to reset it to 1080i (a boot don't help). You can't see the guide or setup menu through the composite or RF(coaxial) outputs. We were working blind.

Aside from all this I like the boxes improved picture quality. Someone mentioned pressing the ByPass button toggled between the stretch/zoom modes. Mine doesn't, it just displays the aspect ratio setting.

Originally posted by Daryl L
Aside from all this I like the boxes improved picture quality. Someone mentioned pressing the ByPass button toggled between the stretch/zoom modes. Mine doesn't, it just displays the aspect ratio setting.

Daryl,
Its really odd... sometimes I can press Bypass and all it will do is show the aspect ratio and not let me change the stretch/sidebar/zoom mode. Other times it will let me change it. It seems to, at least somewhat consistently, allow me to change the mode using the Bypass button when viewing a SD digital channel (i.e. > 77). If it doesn't let me change it I usually have to either power off and back on or reboot the box but eventually it will at least on mine.

1. Turn the 3250 on.
2. Press the Select key on the front until the message light blinks
3. Press the Vol- key. The message should say HdSr.
4. You have 20 seconds to set one of the following:
CH+ 480p
CH- 480i
VOL- 720p
VOL+ 1080I

Originally posted by aldamonHopefully that will be the channel showing the HD 'Canes games instead of the main Fox channel. It seemed like every HD 'Canes game was on Tuesday, which eliminated any chance of watching 24 in widescreen.

Originally posted by aldamon
When will this be fixed? My JVC TV has a unique stretch mode called "Panorama" that looks way better than simple stretch. I can use this only with S-Video. There's no way I'm going without the guide on S-Video! LOL.

Why don't you try setting your 3250 to 480p mode. Your JVC may allow you to use the enhanced Panorama mode when it receives this signal. My Panasonic will do this with 480 signals but not with 1080 signals.

I was just looking at my to do list on my TiVo and I see WRAL is broadcasting the ECU/Carolina game Saturday at 3:30pm. Any chance they're sending their HD truck down to Greenville to broadcast this game?

"There's such a fine line between stupid and clever" - David St. Hubbins

Interesting, I just cheked at craptastic (oh, there is a thing called stereo now?)JPSports and they are showing the VA-Clemson game so I guess there is a chance to see the state of NC toilet bowl in HD. (I'm a UNC fan BTW)

Well it's been a few months since I've watched any HDTV and I was going through withdrawls. I moved into another townhouse. So now I can mount my antenna properly on the roof. I've been spending the last few weeks trying to fine tune the setup and get the antenna mounted just right.... this is a lot easier when the antenna is on your patio instead of on the roof!!

I'm in North Raleigh off of Six Forks Road. So I'm not that far from the antenna farm. It doesn't appear that I have anything blocking my line of sight to the farm, except some tall trees to the left and right of where I'm pointing. I can get NBC, CBS, and FOX fine with one orientation, but, as usual, can't get ABC at all. If I orient the antenna so that I can sort of pick up ABC, I lose the others.

Question: Are others having issues with ABC? I'm not even going to ask about WB and UPN. I used to get those at my old place. Even though they are SD in a digital format, it looks MUCH better than cable when projected at 95 inches! I tried for a while to get those stations and had absolutely no luck. Did the Sinclair group stop broadcasting all together on their digital station?? As I said, it's been a few months since I've tuned a HD station and I don't know what's changed recently.

I called around to a couple of the satellite places, hoping one of them might have a spectrum analyzer so that I could get someone over to the house and figure out what my problems really are and find the most ideal location for my antennna. They said they were having real problems with abc as well and had a number of their customers calling and complaining about the very same thing. Anyone in North Raleigh that can comment on this???

Does anyone have any idea who I could speak with that would have a spectrum analyzer and could come out for some antenna work??? It's getting to the point that I'm going to have to break down and get the time warner cable box just to get ABC high definition. I'll use the antenna for the other stations..... but it's pretty bad that I have to pay so much extra just to get one station...... grumble grumble grumble

Originally posted by deArgilaI didn't watch much of the show, but flipped to it occasionaly - I noticed the same thing. It was like the center channel was muted.

Yeah exactly. I got the sound effects like the text displays. the baby crying, the background music, but not a bit of dialog. It was definitely a problem with just the show. Other OTA and sat HD was fine, as were the commercials during Threat Matrix.

"There's such a fine line between stupid and clever" - David St. Hubbins

Keefer and DeArgilla: The ABC Channel 11 problem was NOT just Threat matrix, but all HDTV audio from channel 11 I tried to watch over the last two days. After Thursday, I assumed it was just a one shot deal, because DTV was okay, but same thing last night (Bonnie). No way to check during the day. Have either of you reported it? I can take DTV for sitcoms, but this must not happen during Alias!! Or for that matter, Karen Briscoe, probably the best new offering on any network.

I sure hope they fix the audio on ABC'S hd channel. This sux. Had to watch George Lopez on analog lastnight. I wonder if this is just WTVD-11's problem or a national network issue? By the way Jbach, that's Karen Sisco.

Has anyone figure out how to change the color of the side bars on the 3250HD? According to the SA web information and other postings in different areas there is supposed to be a setup menu selection for choosing the color but it does not show up on my box. It does seem that the software we have here is different then others. i.e. the setup procedure of pushing the select button and waiting for the message light to blink does not work.

Daryl L, and I have had the same problem. I really would like to change those side bars to black myself. I have the X1 and when I went from the 3100 to the 3250 I noticed the SD channels seemed to be better. I didn't see any difference in the HD although I didn't do a direct comparison.

I wish someone with the 3250 could post some detailed instructions on how to get the explorer setup working.

RE: WTVD audio. Thanks, guys. There was contact info on the web page, and I sent an email to the engineering dept Saturday morning - which promptly was bounced back as undeliverable. They need to fix that.

Saturday night, seeing the problem still there - my goodness, Toy story was awesome in HDTV - makes me want to buy an HDTV recorder - but still no center channel. I left a voicemail for engineering and then spoke to someone in the news room as a back up.

Whether for this reason or because they found it themselves, it was fixed in time for Alias Sunday night. Whew! I hope they don't take the wrong message from all this - i.e. so few people care about HDTV that it can screw up for 3 days before anyone complains!